I 



ROME. 



ROMK. 



330 



extended and strengthened by the pope*. The ancient doorway is 

 situated immediately in front of the bridge ; a spiral-way led to the 

 sepulchral chambers at the summit of the building; part of the white 

 mosaic floor with which the way wag paved ii still remaining. 



Bridge*. The Pons -llua, now Ponte San Angelo, crosses the Tiber 

 immediately opposite the Mausoleum of Hadrian. It was constructed 

 by Hadrian as an entrance to his mausoleum and the gardens of 

 Domitia, in which he also built his circus. The whole of this bridge 

 is ancient except the parapets, some trifling restorations of masonry, 

 and a small arch on the side of the Castle of San Angelo. It consists 

 of three large and two small arches, with buttresses attached to the 

 piers and starlings projecting beyond them. It is decorated with 

 modern statues. 



The Pons Milvius, now Ponte Molle, on the Flaminian Way, rather more 

 than a mile from the city. The construction of this bridgi is attributed 

 to JEmiiius Scauru*, about B.C. 100. A part only of the bridge is 

 ancient. Nicholas V. restored it in the middle of the 15th century, 

 up to which period the extremities consisted of wooden drawbridges. 



The PonsSublicius, or Sublician Bridge, first erected by Ancus Marcius 

 of wood, was destroyed by an inundation in the time of Augustus, and 

 rebuilt of atone by M. ^Emilias Lepidus, the censor, from whom it 

 took the name of -Emilian. It was restored by Antoninus Pius, and 

 in little more than six centuries after was destroyed by a great inun- 

 dation of the Tiber during the reign of Pope Adrian I. The basements 

 of the piers are visible when the water is low. From a coin of the 

 .idnilii it appears to have consisted of three arches, and was adorned 

 with an equestrian statue of the censor. 



The Pons Fabric! us, built by Fabric! us, the Curator Viarum, A.U.C. 690, 

 connect* the city with the Isola Tiburtina, and is the best preserved 

 of the ancient Roman bridges. Pons Gratianus ia a continuation of 

 the Pona Fabricius, connecting the Isola Tiburtina with Trastevere. 

 It was constructed about A.D. 367. 



The Pons Janiculensia, now Ponte Sisto, connecting Trastevere with the 

 city above the Fabrician Bridge, appears to have been restored by one 

 of the emperors. It was reconstructed in 1 774. 



The Pons Palatinni, or Senator! us, now called Ponte 1 lotto, was below 

 the Fabrician and Gratian bridges, and above the Sublician ; only three 

 arches of it remain on the Trastevere side. It was first built by 

 P. Cornelius Scipio Africaoos, and was repaired by Augustus. It was 

 a very handsome bridge, and had a roof supported by marble columns. 

 Being carried off by a great flood, it was rebuilt by Pope Pius III., and 

 again by Gregory XIII. in 1575 ; after which it broke down, and has 

 not been repaired since. 



The Pons Triumphalis, called also Pons Vatican us, was constructed in a 

 bend of the river near the Vatican. It is conjectured to have been built 

 by Caligula or Nero as a means of easy access to their gardens on the 

 Vatican. It appears to have been ruined about the 5th century : some 

 remains of the nibble piers of this bridge may be seen when the water 

 is low. 



Tktoirtt. Of the Theatre of Pompey, built by and named after 

 Pompey the Great, then are some ruins under the Palazzo Pio, near 

 the Campto di Fiore. 



The Theatre of Marcellus, built by Augustus, and dedicated to Mar- 

 cellus, son of Octavia, his tutor, in honour of whom he named the 

 portico attached to thU theatre. This was the second solid theatre 

 constructed in Rome, and consisted of three orders, the upper of which 

 is entirely lost. The remains of this building are in the Piazza MOD- 

 tanara, and a small part near the entrance to the Palaizo OrsinL The 

 style of the architecture was the Palladian model of the Roman Doric 

 anil Ionic orders. 



The Flavian Amphitheatre, or Colosseum, well characterised by 

 Byron in its present state as 



" A noble wreck in ruinoni perfection," 



was commenced by Vespasian, in the last year of his life, on the site 

 of the great pond formed by Nero within the extent of his Domus 

 Anreo. The following brief description will give an idea of the 

 exterior of this building when perfect : Its form is that of an ellipse, 

 the axes of which an 020 feet and 613 feet long respectively. The 

 arena, is 2*7 feet long and 180 feet broad. The difference between 

 the external and internal diameters (166 feet 6 inches at each end) is 

 occupied by four corridors and two blocks of radiating substructions 

 in, or between, which an the staircases and ways from the outer 

 corridors to the inner, and to the arena, together with the concentric 

 or encircling walls which gird the structure, separate the corridors, and 

 inclose the arena. Two of the surrounding corridors lie together, or 

 adjoin each other, on the outer side ; and in this particular the Colos- 

 seum exceeds every other structure of the kind, all the rest having 

 but one only ; it thus acquires a second gallery, in which also it is 

 silMrnlar. The space covered by this edifice is little short of six acres. 

 The outer encircling wall is pierced with 80 openings, leaving of 

 course an equal number of piers ; every opening is arched, and in or 

 against every pier is a column projecting about half its diameter, and 

 supporting an entablature which runs in an unbroken line all round 

 the itsticture. With the exception of the four central openings, which 

 lie on the diameters of the ellipse, and are each nearly two feet wider 

 than the rest, all the openings are very nearly the tame, their width 

 being 14 feet inches. An exactly similar series of arches, diminished 



only in proportion to the smaller extent of the ellipse, separates the 

 second corridor from the first ; and another, bearing the same relation 

 to the second series that the second does to the first, or outer, bounds 

 the second corridor. 



The external elevation of the Colosseum (which alone can be noticed, 

 aa a detailed description of the building is given in another part of 

 the ' English Cyclopaadia') is composed of three stories of attached 

 or engaged columns with their usual accessories, and a pilastraded 

 ordinance, forming a species of attic, which is pierced with windows 

 one in every other interspace. The lowest ordinance of columns 

 rests on the upper step of the substructions, or on the ground-floor of 

 the structure ; it is of what is termed the Doric style. The inter- 

 vening arches are semicircular; they spring from moulded imposts, 

 and have moulded archivolts on their outer faces. The second ordi- 

 nance is in the Roman Ionic style, having voluted capitals to the 

 columns ; and the third is in the Corinthian or foliated style : these 

 rest upon continued, but recessed, stylohata ; their entablatures are 

 unbroken throughout, and the arches in the iutercolumniations in both 

 correspond exactly except in minor details with tho.-e of the lowest 

 or Doric ordinance. The pilasters have foliated capitals also, and are 

 called composite ; they rest on deep plinths under which there is a 

 continued and recessed dado superimposing the Corinthian entabla- 

 ture ; this dado is pierced with holes or small windows alternating 

 with those of tho ordinance above, to give light to the corridor behind 

 the lower and under the upper gallery on the inside. The crowning 

 entablature, which runs its cornice round in one unbroken line, is 

 made bold and effective by deep modilliou blocks or consoles occupying 

 the whole depth of the frieze. 



The Amphitheatre Casti ensis, a small brick amphitheatre, erected 

 probably in the first century of the Christian era. It originally stood 

 without the walls of Servius Tullius, but during the reign of Houorius 

 it was employed to form part of the new inclosure, and the arches 

 wen filled up. On the inside the form of a semi-ellipse on its greatest 

 axis is all that can be discerned ; but externally the engaged Corinthian 

 columns of the lower order, with their brick capitals, are well pre- 

 served ; of the upper order there only remain a pilaster and part of 

 an arch. 



Ardut. The Arch of Titus, which stands near the ruins of the 

 Temple of Venus and Rome, was erected by Domitian in honour of 

 Titus and his conquest of Jerusalem. It is of Pentelio marble, and of 

 an elegant design, but with only one arch. On the sides of the piers 

 under the arch, which is biehly decorated, are two very fine bas-reliefs, 

 illustrating the victory of Titus over the Jews. In one of them is 

 represented the golden table, the trumpets and horns of silver, and the 

 golden candlestick with its branches. The triumph of Titus is repre- 

 sented also on the frieze on the outside of the arch. 



The Arch of Septimius Severus, erected A.D. 205 by the senate and 

 Roman people, in honour of Septimius Severus and his sons Caracalla 

 and Qeta, for their victories over the Parthiaua aud other oriental 

 nations. This arch is also of Pentelic marble, with archways and 

 transverse archways through the piern of the centre arch. Each front 

 is decorated with four fluted columns, and a series of bas-reliefs. 

 Above the attic was a marble group representing the emperor and his 

 two sons, in a chariot drawn by six horses. The whole of the mould- 

 ings and the vaulting are highly enriched with carved ornaments. 



The Arch of Constantino, erected in commemoration of his great 

 victory over Maxentius, stands near the Meta Sudons, and fronting the 

 Colosseum. It is formed with three archways, adorned with four 

 beautiful columns of giallo antico on each side, and enriched with 

 many fine bas-reliefs and statues. Above the attic was a triumphal 

 quadriga. The roadway pastes under the arch. 



The Arch of Dolabeila. This single arch of travertine was con- 

 structed A.D. 10, by tho consuls Publius Cornelius Dolabeila and Caius 

 Junius Silanus. It stands near the church of San Giovanni and Paolo, 

 and is thought to have been the entrance to the Campus Mai-tialie, 

 where the Equiria, or equestrian games in honour of Mars, were cele- 

 brated, when the Campus Martiua was inundated by the Tiber. 



The Arch of Gallienus, upon the site of the Ksquiliue gate, dedicated 

 to Gallienus and Salonina, by Marcus Aurelius Victor. The gat-j is 

 formed of a single arch, adorned with four pilasters, aud flanked with 

 two buttresses, a part of one of which remains on the side towards 

 the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The structure is formed of large 

 blocks of travertine. 



The Arch of Drusus, erected across the Appian Way, close to the gato 

 of St. Sebastian, by the senate, to Claudius Nero Drusus, father of the 

 emperor Claudius. It consists of one arch only, adorned on each side 

 with two marble columns of the Composite order ; above the entabla- 

 ture are the remains of a pediment, and there was also an attic. 

 Caracalla used the arch as part of the line of his aqueduct for his 

 Therms;. 



The Arch of Janus Quadrifrons, situated in the Velabrum, is square, 

 105 palms on each face, with a large arch in each front, forming an 

 open vaulted space. In each of the piers supporting the arcli are 

 twelve niches in two rows, between which were small columns as a 

 decoration forming a double order. The construction is formed of 

 largo blocks of white marble. The upper part is ruined. The build- 

 ing was held by the Frangipani as a fortress. 



The Arch of Septimius Severus.situated also in the Velabrum, and close 



